German soccer star Toni Kroos said "uncontrolled" immigration has left his home country "unrecognizable."
The former Real Madrid star, who left Germany ten years ago, traveled back to his home country this summer to compete for Germany in the Euro 2024 tournament, the Telegraph reported. In an interview given before what was his final professional match, Kroos said there has been a "loss of control" of immigration in Germany, adding that his daughter was safer living in Spain.
While he said he welcomes migrants, Kroos said Germany has struggled to keep the number of people entering the country at a controlled level.
"I believe that this control over certain issues has simply slipped away a little over the years and there’s a reason for that," Kroos said on a conservative-leaning Lanz & Precht podcast. "In my opinion, the reason is that people have overwhelmed them."
US REPUTATION DECLINES GLOBALLY, IMMIGRATION CONCERNS GROW IN EUROPE: STUDY
"I think we didn’t manage it, this basically very positive approach that I support 1000 percent, because I find that sensational, that people come to us from the outside and then are happy," he added.
Kroos said he planned to stay in Germany after retiring from soccer and that he felt his daughter would be more likely to come back "unharmed" from a night out in Spain, adding that he would prefer his 7-year-old daughter go out in a Spanish city at 11 p.m. than a German one when she gets older.
"I think Germany is a great country and I’m happy to be here, but it’s not really the same country that it was 10 years ago when we left" and added that it was a feeling he "wouldn’t have had that 10 years ago."
Notably, Kroos' former Real Madrid teammate Kylian Mbappé urged French citizens to reject "extremists" and vote against Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party in legislative elections that took place over the weekend, the Telegraph reported. The French political party hit back, calling Mbappé "too wealthy" to represent French migrants.
